Borderlands: Adventures of Ben and Gaige
by CupcakeLover7
Summary: So, you want to hear another story? Another unbelievable crossover where two worlds and several heroes collide? If not, too bad! I'm telling you anyway! Our story begins in Pandora, where two teenagers with incredible talents engage in adventures and go way over their heads until they discover adventure in a much more inviting challenge: The Vaults.
1. Introduction

**Introduction:**

**Greetings true believers! I am CupcakeLover7, but you may call me Cupcake! I'm a writer and critc ****for some of my friends and fellow writers here in the Ben 10 crossover community but today, I've decided to write my own story!**

**To those who may not know, I'm part of the trio of Jade, Q and Cupcake that wrote the now cancelled (and absolutely dead) fanfic RWBBYVerse. We don't like talking about it, but it should at least be addressed.**

**Now to celebrate the arrival of Borderlands 3, I've decidedto make this crossover me and a friend of mine had in the backburner. To understand this crossover, I must address a few things:**

**1\. Ben will be VASTLY different in this characerization. In this version, the Ben 10 and Borderlands universes are merged into one, so Ben is a native of this world, therefore, the crap found in the Eden planets, Pandora, Elpis, etc has affected Ben too. But I'll be sure to still add some of his quirks and not make him annoying.**

**2\. I will attempt to blend BL humor with my own. The humor of is dark, crude and very absolutely immature at times, and that's why people, including myself, love it. Please note that I said it's the humor that I consider immature, not the overall writing, as most of the writing in these stories is good. And that's the challenge I'll be facing. I am a writer, but I'm not necessarily a GOOD writer. So I hope that over time, I can still improve over time and at least come close to the writing of the BL series.**

**3\. The main pairing is Ben and Gaige... because at the start of this story, they're already (I'd apologize for my language but this is Borderlands, so come on) fucking. Like, literal sex. But they're not a couple, per se. They're "friends with benefits" that ARE genuine friends, who just happen to screw with one another because the only other attractive person they could find was each other. But over the course of the story, find that they're more comfortable in each other's arms. If it sounds cheesy, that's kind of the point. But I'll make sure it's not distracting as to not diverge from the story.**

**4\. Ben can and WILL kill people. It's Borderlands. It's inevitable. His backstory will show why he has this lessened sense of morality. This also means he will start using guns too. If this ruins him for you, you must leave now. I've already said Ben's going to be very different here.**

**5\. Very few Ben 10 characters will appear as cameos. This is focused more on the Borderlands part of the story.**

**6\. The story will be taking place in some parts of 2, most of Tales and later on, in 3. I say "some parts of 2", because Ben and Gaige's adventure will be a bunch of shenanigans until they meet the Crimson Raiders and start fighting Hyperion for real. But most of Tales is where they'll shine more and meet the Tales crew and make friends with them. By 3, well, it's a surprise.**

**That's it for now. This serves as an intro for the story and hopefully I get to post the real chapter in the future. Hope to see you guys soon!**

**(Cover By Just Q)**


	2. Smash the System!

**Author's Notes: Here it is, folks! The first chapter! Sorry it took a while, with only just the introduction in the story being here. Been playing BL3 too much. It was really good, although some story choices are... questionable. But I can deal with it!**

**Anyway, hopefully you guys will like this and, uh, let's not waste any more time. Let's have a read!**

* * *

Scorching heat over the sandy valley while Skags are devouring corpses of bandits, raiders, psychos and soldiers, and while surrounded by scraps of broken down vehicles and rusting guns that have not been used for ages.

If this doesn't describe the landscape of Pandora, the universe's melting pot of death, destruction and loot, then no one knows what else does.

As a gigantic Alpha Skag, the size of a fully grown tiger, bites off the head of an unfortunate psycho and gulps it down like a child eating candy, it spots a lone wanderer, wearing red, light armor on their chest, on top of a black cloak with red flame spray paints on each sleeve. They have black, tactical cargo pants with similar flame designs at each cuff. On their belt is a holster containing a revolver of sorts, golden in color and marked with a very western style design. It seems to be a Jakobs Citrine Revolver. They have dark green boots and fingerless gloves, alongside a green scarf obscuring their mouth, acting like a mask, as well as grey goggles with bright yellow lenses over their eyes. They have dark brown hair tied to a long braid on their back, which is obscuring what seems to be a metallic, circular object attached and grafted onto the back of their neck, and most likely, their spine. The object in question has a glowing blue, holographic circle emitting right at the middle of the device while along the rims of the object, the words "DT: PLATINUM" are engraved all over it.

From their body type, being slender and their armor still showing a noticeable bust, and their hair alone, this person seems to be female. Unfortunately due to the coloration of her goggles' lenses, the color of her eyes are a mystery.

The Alpha Skag takes a moment to roar and seems like it's still hungry for flesh, looking at the lone wanderer, who isn't even bothered by the beast training it's eyes at her. It's to the point that the woman takes out a music player from her pocket, plugs some earphones into it before placing each piece onto each ear, chooses a song to listen to and turns the volume up to maximum.

_I was walking down the street when out the corner of my eye  
I saw a pretty little thing approaching me  
She said, "I never seen a man, who looks so all alone  
Oh, could you use a little company?_

This show of no fear from the wanderer's part only angered the beast as the rest of it's kin began roaring and growling alongside their pack leader, ready to pounce at their unwavering prey. The wanderer, however, places her music player back in her pocket and pretend to look at the time in the non-existent watch on her left wrist, just to mock her new foes.

_If you pay the right price, your evening will be nice  
And you can go and send me on my way."_

The beasts take another howl of rage as their Alpha shake it's head starts scratching on the floor like a mad bull, ready to destroy it's target with absolute fury. It's stomach is grumbling, it's fangs are sharpened, it's drool is dripping and its eyes trained at its prey that underestimates him and his kin. But the woman remained unfazed and even looks to her left, as if waiting for something.

_I said, "You're such a sweet young thing, why you do this to yourself?"  
She looked at me and this is what she said:_

The Alpha Skag then lets out one last roar and pounces at the lone woman...

...and before it could even register anything, it gets run over by a truck filled with bandits and psychos, splattering the beast into a fine red paste as the vehicle keeps going, with the Alpha Skag's front, left leg and it's brain is stuck on the truck's bumper.

_Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked_  
_Money don't grow on trees  
I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed  
There ain't nothing in this world for free_  
_Oh no, I can't slow down, I can't hold back  
Though you know, I wish I could_

**BORDERLANDS:**

**ADVENTURES OF BEN AND GAIGE**

Seeing their leader turned into roadkill, the smaller, weaker Skags all shudder in terror of the possibility of getting run over as well if they attempt to attack the woman like their leader did. The wanderer herself makes a small chuckle as she gestures them to "bring it". They did not attempt to and instead run away in fear as the woman gives another chuckle and takes her turn to cross the road as Rakks fly above her, a loud screech from one of them echoing across the desert wasteland.

_Oh, no, there ain't no rest for the wicked_  
_Until we close our eyes for good..._

* * *

The wanderer travels around the wastelands of Pandora once more as Rakks attempt to dive bomb her, but an invisible force seems to be knocking out each flying beast whenever they get too close, forcing them into crash landings as the woman continues her trek. Where she's going, no one knows but her.

With each step she takes, a Rakk falls on the ground unconscious, but she doesn't care, as she follows a holographic map displayed on the Heads-Up Display, or HUD, in her goggles. Alongside this, there's a display of her body's overall perfomance, currently at 99.9%, with her Maliwan Explosive Spike shield at 100%.

But it's not what matters to her. Her goal is on the map and she's only a yard away from it. She pulls out her Jakobs Citrine Revolver, spinning it around her finger before catching it in style.

In half an hour, she finally reached her main target location: a bandit camp.

Filled with psychos, bandits and idiots armed with buzz axes, guns, explosives and someone else's bones turned into daggers. Or daggerbones, if you will.

Some miniature psychos, or Tinks, are stabbing an already dead body just beside the campfire where a female Psycho looks like she's about to make out with a marauder, until she grabs him by the head and headbutts him, knocking him out and cracking his helmet, as she laughs maniacally. Behind them are a bunch of marauders marauders practicing their aim and their guns at several Skags tied up to poles and put on T-poses. There are several pieces of scrap, vehicle parts and broken down building debris are used to build makeshift encampments as several billboards have been torn and screwed in together to form the shape of a skull, hanging on the main building, with flames shooting out from its eyes.

Don't ask me how that works. It just does.

"Hey!" The wanderer yelled out to the crowd of dangerous people, causing all of them to stop whatever it was they were doing to look at her. Most of the psychos are in stances like wild animals anxious for their next meal, who's just standing there before them, while the marauders all take out their respective weapons, from Maliwan shotguns, to Jakobs sniper rifles, to even stolen Atlas machine guns. And each and every single one are aimed directly at the wanderer's hidden face. "Yeah. I'm talking to you."

"The hell do you want, grinder?!" One of the Marauders yelled out, aiming his specially customized Jakobs sniper rifle with a shotgun attachment. And by "specially customized", I meant, it's quite literally just a sniper rifle with a shotgun duct taped onto it's barrel.

"You got someone very important in there that I need back. Just give me who I want and I'll leave you guys alone." The wanderer offered, a hand on her right hip as a show of confidence.

However, the only response she got was a loud roar of laughter from the entire crowd of hooligans as they all mock their intruder, showing zero respect to her at all.

"The only person you'll be meeting is Spine Eater!" The same sniper-shotgun Marauder announced to their foe and as if on cue, a deformed Psycho erupts from the inside of their main building.

The deformed Psycho yells out in a loud, obnoxious and guttural voice, "I will rip your flesh from my LIPS!"

**SPINE EATER**

**_Loves Eating Spines (duh)_**

**(You don't wanna know what it looks like coming out...)**

Spine Eater is an 8 foot tall, gargantuan Psycho with an incredibly small left arm that's half the length of a normal one, but his right arm is absolutely long and massive! It's deformed and incredibly muscular to the point of absurdity. He has spikes sticking out of his right shoulder, armor plates all over his legs and pants and his mask is completely black with red splatters as a design choice all over it. The eyes on the mask are bright orange to contrast everything else on his facewear. His weapon of choice seems to be a standard Atlas chainsaw, attached to his right arm, that's supposed to be used for cutting trees in the Prometha gardens, but is now being used as Spine Eater's way of getting to his next meal.

The deformed Psycho then runs at the wanderer, screaming bloody murder, and attempts to cut her down with his chainsaw. However...

"Deathtrap!" The wanderer yelled out as a hulking machine uncloaks behind her and appears to stop Spine Eater's arm, catching it in it's gigantic hand.

**DEATHTRAP: PLATINUM**

**_Family Heirloom, Enemies' Doom_**

**(The 6th Version of Deathtrap. Don't ask about the 4th and 5th)**

Deathtrap is a hulking robot with a large chest area, two large, mechanical arms, a lack of legs in favor of rockets to enable himself to hover and fly, and of course, a singular, cyclopean eye instead of a face or any distinguishable features on his head. He is pure black in color but has red, flame decals on each arm and even on his body. He has dual plasma claws on his left knuckle and a large, shoulder mounted missile launcher on his left shoulder and extra propulsion rockets on his back.

He also seems to have a heart with a lock attached to it as an emblem on his chest plate.

This whole time. The Rakks attacking the lone wanderer, they were all dying because of Deathtrap while he was cloaked directly behind her.

His singular eye glows with a sinister, terrifying red as he continues to stop Spine Eater's large, chainsaw arm. "Let go of my chopping grinder, tuna can!" Spine Eater futilely exclaimed at his new foe, but Deathtrap awaited his orders and tightened his grip on the psycho's arm until his bones began shattering within his flesh and Deathtrap's hand began creating dark bruises marked and shaped like his very hand around Spine Eater's wrist.

"Deathtrap. Cut him some slack." The wanderer commanded her machine. The millisecond Deathtrap heard his master's orders, he completely crushes Spine Eater's wrist and tore off his arm, causing the supposed Badass Psycho to scream in pain as the lethal machine then extends his plasma claws out more and slashes downward at the now one armed Psycho. Silence filled the encampment as everyone except the wanderer and her death machine waited for something to happen...

...and something did, indeed, happen as Spine Eater suddenly spews so much blood from his head and down to his crotch. The amount was excessive and so spewing so profusely, it's hard to believe Spine Eater was still conscious from this as his scream erupts once more and grew louder than his last.

"Tell my wife... she doesn't exist!" Spine Eater spilled his last words as the cut that his bleeding came from finally took effect and the psycho gets split vertically in half, each slice of him falling on opposite sides.

The sight of one of their own falling before them finally signalled each and every psycho, tink, psycho tink and marauder to now attack their opponents as each one with a gun began firing while the ones armed with melee weapons or, in the case of Suicide Psychos, grenades in their hands start charging towards the lone wanderer and her powerful Deathtrap.

This prompts the lone hunter to pull out her own revolver and started firing indiscriminately at every possible target she could find. To the surprise of the bandits, she's a good shot as every bullet is not wasted and strikes 6 successful headshots on a psycho with a buzz axe, two Marauders wielding sniper rifles, two Tinks wielding shotguns and a Suicide Psycho, who, upon getting shot in the head, loses his grip on the active grenade in his hand, which detonates upon reaching the floor, creating an explosion that kills 5 extra psychos that were running with him, earning the wanderer a total of 11 kills in 6 shots.

But gunfire continued to rain over her and her Deathtrap, forcing the woman to run to cover while her deadly machine blocks every bullet, buckshot and explosive coming her way by transforming his plasma claws into energy shields. Once his master found a perfect cover behind broken down cars, Deathtrap stops blocking and goes on the offensive by finally firing missiles from his shoulder mounted launcher, unleashing a hailstorm of rockets at every enemy he could see with his singular.

While most of them evaded the attack by hiding behind cover, pthers other were not so fortunate as each explosive rendered them unable to fight... by turning them all into a fine red paste, with bits and pieces of them scattering all over the scorched ground. While Deathtrap continues his assault, the wanderer unloads her revolver's empty shells before reloading in actual bullets and placing the cylinder back in place before stylishly spinning her gun in her hand and catching it back to take aim.

She fires one at a sniper trying to stay hidden at the very top of one of the scrap piles, then another at the Tink that was a couple of feet away from her spot. When she noticed that one of the Marauders is carrying a rocket launcher, she places her middle finger and thumb into her mouth to form a circle and blows out a whistle, calling forth Deathtrap as the machine looks at his master before turning his attention towards where she was looking. Upon seeing the rocket wielding target, Deathtrap's eye starts glowing brighter until it shoots out a gigantic red laser of death that, upon contact with the Marauder, completely disintegrates him into nothing but ash, down to his very bones.

When Deathtrap stops shooting his red laser, he looks at the rest of their enemies coming for them and he jets towards the nearest psycho and uses his plasma claws to cut him into pieces small enough to be the size of sushi rolls. Next, he stops the swing of a female psycho wielding a buzz axe by catching her hand with his right before using his plasma claw to cut her up by her waist horizontally, causing her legs to drop on the floor as she screams in agony while Deathtrap throws away her upper half like yesterday's garbage. A random psycho then jumps on Deathtrap's back and starts mashing his buzz axe against his head while another psycho jumps at Deathtrap's right arm and grabs hold of it.

Unfortunately for both, Deathtrap was not stupid as it holds up his right arm that has the psycho holding onto it and activates his rear rocket pack that fires a jet of flames that incinerates the psycho on his back as her rockets forward with his right arm up, colliding it with a wall and effectively crushing the psycho on his arm into a red splatter on the wall.

Meanwhile, the wanderer dives forward to dodge a grenade before turning it into a tactical roll forward as the grenade explodes behind her. After landing back on her feet, she fires her 5 remaining bullets at some more rifle wielding Marauders with extreme precision, striking their heads and spilling their brain matter all over the floor before they drop dead on the ground.

Just when she thought she and her robot are winning, a loud booming noise erupts from the main building. This turned her and Deathtrap's attention at the entrance to the building as a mysterious figure shows up.

"WHO THE HELL ARE _**YOU**_?!" The new enemy yelled out in a loud, intimidating and bellowing voice.

**BOSSANOVA VOLUME 2**

_**Daughter Of Bossanova, Bandit Lord**_

**(Wait, Bossanova FUCKED someone? How'd he manage that?)**

Bossanova II is a fit woman, the same build as the wanderer, with speakers and subwoofers found all over her person. She has a big one on her gut, two, shoulder mounted rectangular speakers on each shoulder, a speaker on each side of her leg and two gauntlets with speakers on each of them. She has a skull shaped helmet over her head with the "teeth" shaped into music notes instead.

"Chip of the ol' rotten block, huh, Nova?" The wanderer mocks her new foe as Deathtrap rejoins her and hovers directly behind her.

"I don't know who you are, but you got a lot of guts to barge into our territory!" Bossanova II responded, her every word echoing and amplified by every speaker she has on her body. The blast of sonic she unleashes almost hits the wanderer, but Deathtrap swiftly flies over her and gets in front of his owner to block the attack.

The wanderer only answers Bossanova II with a contemptuous chuckle as Deathtrap cracks his knuckles. "Yeah. Territory. Like a dog guarding his spot filled with it's own piss and shit." The wanderer added.

This only served to anger Bossanova II more as she growls at her enemies before turning up the power of her speakers to maximum output before taking a deep breath and yell out, "**FUCK YOU!**"

At maximum power, the sonic blast was strong enough to finally knock Deathtrap away and launch him and the wanderer, straight towards a pile of scrap metal on the side. Before they could completely come into contact with the debris, however, Deathtrap does his best to grab his owner and wrap his arms around her to protect just before colliding with the pile, causing an explosion of dust and smoke to erupt from the collision.

Laughter with an egotistical tone escaped the mouth of Bossanova II as she starts playing heavy metal mixed witu dubstep from her speakers, all while menacingly approaching where she threw her foes away as the dust began settling. "You think you're hot shit, huh? Judging by your gear and that hunk of junk you keep around, and the fact that you killer most of my boys already, I guess you're just another wannabe Vault Hunter, huh? Your time is past, grinder! Vault Hunting is a dead tradition!" Bossanova II began mocking the wanderer and, once she's reached her location, makes a loud roar that allows her speakers to shoot out another sonic blast that knocks away scrap off of the wanderer, just so Bossanova II can see directly in her eyes before killing her. "How about I fulfill your wish while I'm at it, eh, grinder?"

Bossanova II think she's son, and it may be true, as the wanderer could see in her HUD that her overall health performance is at 59% and her shields have dropped to 0%. All it would take now is two more sonic blasts and it could be all over...

But she doesn't know who she's dealing with.

"... That's a lot of talk, coming from a daddy's girl..." The wanderer suddenly responded as she remains lying down on the pile of scrap.

Before she could even say anything to retort, Bossanova II noticed that Deathtrap is suddenly missing and nowhere to be found near the wanderer. She was about to ask until she felt a quick and sudden sharp pain resonate from her gut and spreads fast throughout her entire body. She couldn't even register what was happening, she was lifted off of the ground as her assailant reveals himself by decloaking.

It was, of course, none other than Deathtrap, deactivating his invisibility as he keeps his plasma claws lodged into Bossanova II's guts. "What... What the fuck?!" was all Bossanova could come up with as her blood heats up from Deathtrap's plasma claw.

"Do you know why your pops died, Nova?" The wanderer began her monologue as she stands back up and pulls down her scarf to reveal her fair lips as she continues speaking. "It's not because he was way over his head, or because he didn't know who he was dealing with... Though to be fair, those are part of the reason..."

The wanderer continued as she approaches her machine that's impaling the bandit lord lord getting in their way, who continues to struggle to get off of the blades, but only makes it worse by accidentally sinking the blades into herself deeper. "But no. None of that is the real reason he met his downfall. No. He lost because, just like you, he... talked too much." The wanderer ended her boasting before snapping her fingers at Deathtrap, signaling the death machine to end this.

Following his master's orders, Deathtrap lifts Bossanova II higher and rears back his free, right fist, gripping hard before unleashing a flurry of right handed punches in blinding speed, pummeling Bossanova II in an unbelievable amount of times as each strike breaks a bone in her body. Deathtrap's onslaught of punches did not stop and kept going for over a full 30 seconds before he finally ends it with a single strike to her chest.

"Death Rocket." The wanderer commanded to her mechanized killer, and Deathtrap recognizes the code as he suddenly fires his right fist like a rocket powered punch, pushing Bossanova off his plasma claws and launches her into the sky. When the rocket fist suddenly starts beeping, Bossanova II had no time to realize what was about to happen until the fust explodes into a fiery inferno, absolutely destroying the failed bandit lord.

The wanderer scoffs as Deathtrap turns invisible once more, vanishing from sight as his master fixes her goggles on the bridge of her nose, all while the fiery remains of Bossanova, now reduced to a flaming skeleton, drop from where the explosion in the sky that killed her came from. "Smash the system." The wanderer spoke out or nowherer before kicking Bossanova II's skeletal remains.

* * *

Stepping into the main building of the entire bandit camp, the wanderer scans the room with her eyes. Thankfully, she and Deathtrap have killed most of the bandits that own the place, and those that lived ran away, and if they're smart, and let's be honest, they're not, they won't come back for a while or else they'll be on the other end of Deathtrap's plasma claws again.

Once she's looked around further, she finally spots what she came for right at the very end of the room.

"Well, well, well. Look at you, drenched in blood and smelling like hot lead."

**FIONA, AS THE OLD ROGUE**

_** Ex-Vault Hunter**_

**(Can TELL quite a TALE)**

Fiona is a 54 year old, mature but still beautiful woman with graying, short hair underneath a white bowler hat. She has a black suit with a white tie, white pants dirtied with dust and soil, silver boots and a single, fingerless glove on her right hand. She has gray eyes, red lips and seems slightly shorter than the wanderer herself.

Fiona seems to be tied up to a spike as several of her own equipment, including an Atlas shield, a three barreled, custom revolver, a few bucks and what seems to be a pocket watch are scattered all over the floor in front of her, which seems to imply that someone had been taking them off of her to scavenge her stuff.

"I hope that's not your blood, though." Fiona comments as the wanderer approaches her.

She responds with a chuckle as she pulls down her scarf further down and finally pulls off her goggles to reveal that she has a green right eye and a red left eye, staring directly at Fiona with a smile. "It's not mine, aunt Fi. Well, most of it, anyway." She responds as she receals herself as...

**KENDRA "KEN" TENNYSON, AS THE LEGACY**

_**Daughter of the Shapeshifter and Mechromancer**_

**(You thought it was Gaige, but it was her, KENDRA!)**

"Need some help?" Kendra jokingly asks her mentor as she gives off a friendly smile to the ex-con artist.

"Just get me down here, you little brat." Fiona only complained as she starts to struggle off her spot. The young protege simply chuckled to herself before snapping her fingers to unleash Deathtrap once more and the robot uses it's claws to cut the ropes keeping Fiona in place. With each rope cut and burnt, Fiona safely lands on her feet before stretching her legs and her arms to get rid of the exhaustion and strain on her whole body after days of being tied up and remaining in a standing position while her feet hang off without touching the floor.

"Oh, how I miss body movement." The veteran woman sighed in relief before she began picking up her stuff found on the floor. "All things considered, those bandits kept me fed and alive. Although I was getting tired of just roasted Skag meat in breakfast, lunch ane dinner every single day. Still, they needed me alive for whatever it is they're after."

"What _were _they after, aunt Fi?" Kendra asks her mentor just as she stands back up, having finished taking back her belongings, before heading off first, with the prodigy girl following her and her death machine tailing her.

"The stuff I found from the Vault of the traveler several years ago. They think I still have all of that with me, somehow." Fiona answers her student before attaching her small revolver to her hidden spring action mechanism found within her right sleeve. She then slings the mechanism, and by the extension the gun, back inside as she and her young apprentice exit the building, greeting the veteran woman with the death, carnage and destruction Kendra and Deathtrap caused. "Nice work. Reminds me of my days at the Death Rally." She commended the young girl under her tutelage.

"Funny you should mention that. I also happen to kill Bossanova's daughter." Kendra boasted as she gestures her robot for a high five, which Deathtrap reciprocates with his own, their flesh hand and mechanical hand respectively making an audible clap upon coming into contact with one another.

"Well, your parents _have _killed so many people at your age, and I also trained you in the art of Vault Hunting, so I suppose that's a job well done, young grasshopper." Fiona commends commends her protege once more while kicking some dust into a nearby marauder corpse. "Speaking of your parents, I see Deathtrap's been improved again."

Kendra nods and snaps her fingers, which caused Deathtrap to suddenly start flexing his arms, as if he had actual muscles. Did she just command him to literally flex on Fiona? "Deathtrap: Platinum. Went through several phases again. Deathtrap: Gold, Deathtrap: Diamond, Deathtrap: Req–"

"Kiddo, calm down. I get it. You love this guy. I do too. But you need to take a break. You keep upgrading Deathtrap day and night." Fiona began worrying for her protege as she puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Well, I'm going to need every little bit that can help if I'm... I'm going to..." Kendra started loud and almost angry, but she slowly drifted her tone to a sad and calm tone until she eventually stopped talking and looks away. "... I want to find them."

"And you will, kiddo. We will. You come from tough stock. They're not gonna go down that easily." Fiona responds, before Kendra turns around to face her mentor... and hug her. Fiona hugs her back as Deathtrap puts a hand on his master's shoulder.

"...But where would we start?" Kendra mutters into her teacher's ears as they break the hug.

"I suppose the right place to start is the beginning..." Fiona points out, taking a few steps forward and looking up into the sky. "Where your parents first met: Eden-5."

* * *

_Several years ago..._

The sound of the school bell ringing echoed through the halls of the entire Eden-5 International University, or EUI, mockingly pronounced by some jocks and bullies as "Ew!", the students all stop their breaks, flirting, bullying, eating and shitting to finally head back for their classes.

Inside one of the dorms, however, was a lone 16 year old girl wearing her blue, school uniform with a grayish skirt and proper, informal shoes. She has red hair tied to twin pigtails, dark green eyes and a very beautiful face complimented by her fair skin.

The girl seems to be working on what seems to be the eye-slash-head piece of an early version of Deathtrap, all while she's speaking to the microphone of her headphones currently around her head and on her ears, with the headphones jacked and connected to her ECHO Recorder, which is also connected to a nearby computer of hers currently connected to the ECHOnet and is recording her current ECHOcast. Geez, how many times did I write "ECHO" there?

"Hello to you, my faithful twelve subscribers!"

**GAIGE**

_**Nerdy with A Side of Anarchy**_

**(Smash the system!)**

However, she was briefly interrupted when she heard a beep coming from her computer, causing her to look and see that her subscriber count from her ECHOcast dropped by 1.

"Oops, eleven." Gaige corrected herself, but rather than be discouraged, she simply cleared her throat and continued her work. "As you all know, the Eden-5 Youth Science Fair is only weeks away. Marcie Holloway's already got her dad's indentured laborers working on a miniature thermosonic energy reactor. Because evidently all the money in the galaxy can't buy you originality. Stupid rich bourgeoisie jerkbags. Marcie never had to work a day in her life to get where she is. ANARCHY FOREVER! SMASH THE SYSTEM!"

Upon finishing her catchphrase, another beep occurs on her ECHOcast page and sees that one of her subscribers, and actually her first, named Sumos&Badasses4Lyfe, gave her another a Like, which causes the young technological prodigy to gasp in delight. "Thank you for the encouragement, Sumo! Always glad to know you're still around! Anyway, I've come up with a science project that will make Marcie's thermo reactor look like an interocitor!" she continued and actually laughed at her own joke, to the point that she even accidentally snorts like a dork mid laughter. But she manages to find her breath again and catch herself before adding, "I'm calling it the Mechanized Anti-Bully Deterrent Test, or Project DT. It's only in the prototype stages right now, but I have mathematically determined that it is going to be OFF THE CHAIN. Basically, the idea is that if you deploy a DT unit in a school environment, it's going to CLAMP DOWN on bullying by finding bullies and BEATING THE CRAP OUT OF 'EM!"

"Miss Gaige!"

Gaige yelps a little from the sound of an adult man's voice, causing her to turn around to see a very stereotypical looking strict teacher, complete with a balding area on his head, at her door, knocking on it, despite the fact that it's open, as he stares at her with very bored looking eyes to call to her, saying, "You still have a class to attend to. Please stop whatever it is you're doing and attend, please? You don't want to repeat what happened last week, do you?"

"Oh! Sorry, Mr. Randy! It won't happen again!" Gaige apologizes as she takes off her headphones while holding onto the project DT's headpiece.

"Good. Now get going." Mr. Randy, the teacher, responds and soon after, leaves as the redhead genius starts packing her school materials.

"Gotta run! See you guys tomorrow!" Gaige began telling her subscribers/watchers as she resdies to turn off her computer. But before she does, she whispers one final line to them, muttering, "Smash the system...!"

And with that, she turns off her computer and heads off. After a few minutes of traveling from her dorm to the actual school, she finally found the hallway leading to her next class, where several more students are all still crossing. She takes a sigh of relief, knowing that at least she won't be the onky one late. It would 55% less embarrassing this way, according to her.

However, upon rushing to her next class, she suddenly bumps into someone and drops all belongings, from her bag to her lunch.

Gaige rubs her head from the pain of the collision as she looks up to see several other girls in the same uniform as her, but the one Gaige bumped into is one with long, blonde, curly hair, bright blue eyes and incredibly white skin.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in, girls."

**MARCIE HOLLOWAY**

_**Spoiled Brat**_

**(Definition of the term "Mega Bitch")**

Marcie and her crew of fellow, self-absorbed school girls all began laughing at Gaige as she struggles to pick up all her stuff that fell out of her bag. When she was just about to reach for a blueprint of her Project DT, Marcie suddenly steps on the paper containing the schematics she needs, causing Gaige to look at her arch enemy with a glare while the Mega Bitch retorts with a smug smirk and a sinister gaze.

"Hello, Garb-aige." Marcie mockingly says to the redheaded genius on the floor as she hardened her footing on the blueprints, preventing Gaige from retrieving it and only causes her to stand back up to face Marcie.

"Hello, Marcie Holloway. Unoriginal as always." Gaige retorts, without a flinch or bother.

Marcie was actually amused at the sight of this peasant daring to go against her queen, managing a small, mocking chuckle under her breath as she looks at her sworn foe. "Same old Garb-aige. Still filled with unrelenting flames, I see. Like a literal garbage fire. I hope whatever you're going to make for the Science Fair will be incredibly bad so that it'll make mine look more stellar and amazing that the judges won't have a choice but to pick me."

"Well you better hope I fail then. Because if my Anti-Bully Deterrent Test succeeds, even you won't be able to do anything to bully me or anyone else anymore." Gaige responds while raising her chin to make it look like she's looking down at Marcie in a literal sense.

While this argument is going on, several of the other students have already entered their respective class rooms.

All, except a lone, brown haired boy wearing the male equivalent of the school's uniform. His most distinguishing feature, however, is the fact that he has a bright green right eye, but a dark red left eye, signifying that he has heterochromia of sorts.

The boy was about to enter his class room until he spots Gaige surrounded by bullies.

"Wow. Anti-Bully Deterrent Test? You couldn't come up with something that doesn't sound like a rejected, psycho drug?" Marcie responds as she picks up the blueprint she had been keeping under her shoe. Upon unfolding it, she doesn't even take a second before laughing at Gaige's work in progress, causing Gaige to immediately grab it from her hands and hold it close to her like a lost pet. "Well, a lost cause of a project like that will definitely guarantee my success already. I'll be glad to tear apart this poor excuse of a project without even trying by the time the science fair arrives. And I'll be doing this to you over and over and over and over and over again until you're nothing but dust on my work desk and I'll be CEO of my dad's company."

Gaige wanted to say something, but words couldn't escape her mouth as she's slowly getting discouraged by such hurtful words. Normally, she could just retort, but even as a genius herself, she knows she can't possibly rival such a big company like the one Marcie's dad owns has technology beyond Gaige's reach. All that talk during her ECHOcast... She now began thinking it could be just her in denial, but she must face reality... The Holloways are behemoths of technology, and she's an ant scraping by

However, unbeknownst to her and the other girls, the boy watching them glares at Marcie and looks back at Gaige with pity. He then widens his eyes, as if he had just gotten an idea. He pulls down his left sleeve to reveal a strange watch of sorts with the letter "B" emblazoned on it instead of telling time. He then spins the rim around the letter and causes the device to make a beeping noise.

Back to Marcie and her crew bullying Gaige, Marcie pushes Gaige away from her and made her fall back on the floor. "What's wrong, Garb-aige? No witty remark? Nothing to say? Finally ran out of fire in your trash bin?" Marcie mocks her foe as her girls all laugh at Gaige while simultaneously praising their Mega Bitch leader.

Gaige really wants to punch this blonde brat in the face, but she had just lost all resolve to do so. Just when she thought she should just give up...

"Marcie Holloway."

Marcie and her girls all turn to see that Mr. Randy from earlier approaches them with a very stern and angry look as he crosses his hands over his chest. "You are all late for your classes! How many times do I have to keep tolerating your behavior until I call you to my office?!"

"Oh please, Mr. Randy. My dad won't let such a thing happ–" Marcie was in the middle of saying, but she was interrupted when Mr. Randy kept talking.

"Your father is a respectable businessman known across the planet with various projects and a reputation known almost in 5 galaxies! So if he ever heard that you were sent to the counselor's office, he may be able to make sure you get out, but the general public and media will have all their eyes and cameras staring at you and wonder, why does such a successful man like Mr. Holloway have such a disrespectful and misbehaving daughter like you?" Mr. Randy points out to Marcie, which actually started making her sweat.

"No! He won't let that happen!" Marcie insisted.

Mr. Randy simply harrumphed at his student and responds, "Not even your father can control all of media world. The news today thrives on controversy and failures, Miss Holloway. You better start behaving now, lest you put your father's reputation at risk!"

"Yes, sir! It won't happen again!" Marcie responds as she and her girls all run off and head back to their class.

Once they were out of sight, Gaige could only sigh as she starts picking up her dropped belongings once more when Marcie pushed her minutes ago. "Thank you, Mr. Randy. Sorry to bother you..."

"Well, to be honest, it looks like _they _were bothering _you_."

Gaige noticed that Mr. Randy's voice suddenly changed from his deep one to one much more akin to a teenage boy. She turns around to see that Mr. Randy spins the dial on his watch and all of a sudden, he "glitches out" and suddenly changes into the green and red eyed boy from earlier.

"But I guess even mega bitches like them know when to fold 'em."

**BEN TENNYSON**

_**It's Your Boy**_

**(Kept you waiting, huh?)**

"Hi, Gaige. I'm Ben Tennyson, but you... can call me Sumos&Badasses4Lyfe." Ben introduces himself to Gaige as he offers a helping hand up.

Upon realizing the name he gives her, she gasps in delight once more and takes Ben's hand to get back up to her own two feet as she starts bouncing up and down. "You're Sumos?! Oh my god! You were my first subscriber! Even dad was just my second!"

"You inspired me to make this." Ben responds, gesturing to his watch. "My very own Personal Transformation Machine Lite! Based on the design Anshin made that lets people change their appearance, but mine can be used on the fly."

Gaige giggles and scratches the back of her head. To think she actually inspired someone... "Well, I didn't do that much..."

"Well, to me, you did. Kinda helped me find the confidence to actually make this thing. If you could create your own robot, I can create my own Disguise-O-Watch. I'm calling it that, by the way." Ben responds, which only further made Gaige smile more.

Regaining the resolve to she nearly lost, the knowledge that someone out there can be inspired by someone like her was enough for her to get back on track and more determined to beat Marcie at the science fair. "Glad I could help you!" Gaige comments.

The two smiled at each other for what seems like a minute, enjoying the moment they got for each other...

...until it occurred to both of them that they're going to be late. "Oh boy! We better get to class!" Ben points out.

"Yeah! Of course! Do we go to the same class?" Gaige asks Ben as the two walk together down the halls. While the two seem alone, with no one else in the hallway in sight, they both seem perfectly content with each other's company.

"Yeah, we do. Although you barely notice me because I sit at the back."

"Well that changes from now on! I'll be sitting with you starting today!"

"Nice! I'd be happy to exchange notes on certain things. Would you like some ideas for Project DT?"

"Of course! I've been wanting a lab partner ever since I got here!"

"Then I'm glad to be working with you!"

"You too, pal! By the way, have you been thinking of improving your watch?"

"A bit, yeah. Maybe other than changing my appearance... I can..."

"Gain abilities?"

"Sounds like stretch... But maybr we can make it work..."

"Of course we can! Let's... say it with me..."

"SMASH THE SYSTEM!"

"SMASH THE SYSTEM!"

"Nice!"

* * *

**To be continued...**


End file.
